


Lupercalia

by Black_Crystal_Dragon



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Gift Giving, Lupercalia, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-15
Updated: 2010-02-15
Packaged: 2019-04-24 06:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14350146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Black_Crystal_Dragon/pseuds/Black_Crystal_Dragon
Summary: Sirius doesn't do St Valentine's Day - so he does something else instead.





	Lupercalia

**Author's Note:**

> Set sometime in the Marauder's seventh year at Hogwarts. Written for Lupercalia 2010, because there was a time when HMS Wolfstar was obsessed with that particular Roman holiday. (If you don't know what Lupercalia is, don't worry: Sirius will explain.)
> 
> Archived to AO3 17 April 2018.

Remus was rudely awakened by a very excitable Padfoot leaping onto his bed and licking his face. He jerked out of sleep with a yelp, raising his arms to fend him off, but instead of fur his fingers found long hair and the soft cloth of Sirius’s pyjamas. He pushed Sirius away reflexively, squinting through the dim light at him.  
  
“What time is it?” he asked blearily. Sirius grinned at him and Remus groaned, turning his head in an attempt to hide his face in the pillow. Sirius had no right to be sporting that mischievous expression this early in the morning, let alone the slightly manic glint in his eye. It didn’t bode well.  
  
“Do you know what today is?” Sirius asked, deliberately ignoring Remus’s question, which probably meant it was hideously early.  
  
“February fifteenth?” he replied, slightly confused. Valentine’s Day was impossible to miss or forget at Hogwarts, especially for someone as popular as Sirius, so he ought to know the date. He frowned slightly and Sirius leaned down to kiss the end of his nose.  
  
“Yeah, that’s the date, but do you know what today is?”  
  
“Saturday?” Remus suggested, rubbing his eyes. He wished Sirius would just tell him what he meant; his brain wasn’t awake enough to cope with riddles yet. “Day after Valentine’s?”  
  
“Both correct, both not what I mean,” Sirius told him cheerfully. He shifted so that he was lying beside Remus instead of crouching over him and gave him a nudge. Remus took the hint and shifted across the bed, which seemed narrow now that the two of them were trying to fit side by side.  
  
“OK, I give up,” he sighed, rolling onto his side. “What’s today?”  
  
“Lupercalia,” Sirius grinned. When Remus only looked at him in confusion, his grin faded a little, but he launched into an explanation without complaint. “It was a Roman festival. Mostly for fertility, but partly in honour of Lupa – the wolf who raised Romulus and Remus – hence the name: Lupercalia. It means Wolf-Festival.”  
  
Remus smiled, feeling slightly bemused, and raised his eyebrows expectantly. “So…?”  
  
“So, I was thinking a few weeks ago, and I thought a festival named after a wolf – a wolf associated with your namesake, no less – was more fitting for us than yesterday,” Sirius said. He rolled over onto his back and reached down to the floor beside the bed, pushing the curtains out of his way. After a moment of scrabbling, he lifted a small, velvet box up onto the bed and placed it between them. “That’s for you.”  
  
“Are you sure this isn’t an attempt to cover up the fact that you missed Valentine’s Day?” Remus teased, attempting to cover the fact that he was blushing, torn between delight and embarrassment. The box looked as if it might contain jewellery, and he fervently hoped that Sirius hadn’t spent a lot. He wished now that he had followed his instincts, risked the inevitable teasing and got Sirius something for Valentine’s Day.  
  
Then again, even if he had got something, it would most likely have been confectionary or something from Zonko’s. It would hardly have matched up to whatever Sirius had bought.  
  
“Yes, I’m sure!” Sirius snapped, bristling indignantly. He propped himself up on one elbow and pouted at Remus. “I wanted to do something so you wouldn’t feel left out from me not doing Valentine’s – and don’t lie, I know you felt left out yesterday. Open the box.”  
  
Remus smiled weakly; Sirius knew him far too well. He sat up and lifted the box, pushing aside his guilt for the time being. He glanced at Sirius before lifting the lid. Inside was a pair of cufflinks set with two round, pearlescent stones; Remus’s heart sank as he realised that they were silver. “Sirius…”  
  
“It’s white gold,” Sirius said quickly, anticipating his protest and shaking his head at him. “You really think I’d buy you silver?”  
  
Remus laughed at his own, blatantly stupid assumption and looked back down at the cufflinks. He rubbed a thumb across the smooth surface of one of the stones. “They’re beautiful.”  
  
“They’re set with moonstones,” Sirius told him, and Remus could hear from his tone of voice that he was inordinately pleased with himself. He sat up and slid across until he was sitting right against Remus, then pulled one of the cufflinks out. “You can’t really see in this light, but if you tilt them there’s a blue sheen inside…”  
  
Remus smiled and twisted so that he could kiss Sirius’s cheek. “You really did put a lot of thought into this.” He paused, his stomach twisting with guilt, then admitted, “I – didn’t think you’d go to so much trouble, so I didn’t actually –”  
  
“Remus, I got about a ton of free chocolate yesterday, what more could I possibly want?” Sirius chuckled, carefully setting the cufflink back into the box beside its twin. Then he slipped an arm around Remus’s waist and gave him a squeeze. “But if you really want to give me something, you can say yes.”  
  
“To what?” Remus asked, his eyebrows coming together automatically in a suspicious frown.  
  
“It’s nothing bad, I promise!” Sirius laughed, shaking his head. He sobered after a moment and cleared his throat, only a trace of his former smile left. He looked suddenly nervous as he continued, “Will you come and stay with me in the summer?”  
  
Remus blinked at him. So far, although all of the Marauders knew about it, none of them had seen Sirius’s recently-acquired flat – not even James. He had suspected from the start that the place wasn’t as brilliant as Sirius was pretending, and that was the reason why none of them had been invited there yet. That Sirius was willing to let him see it felt like an honour. He smiled and reached out to squeeze Sirius’s hand.  
  
“Yes,” he murmured, and leaned over to press a kiss to Sirius’s mouth before he started to grin.


End file.
